Nostalgia: Fire at Kinghorn Primary

Firemen on the roof of Kinghorn PS after the fire in July 1980. In the foreground are Headmaster William Speed (left) with janitor Thomas Senior (right).

Published:16:16Friday 07 September 2018

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Thirty eight years ago one of Fife’s oldest schools suffered severe damage after a fire.

A blaze swept through Kinghorn Primary School in July 1980 causing several thousands pounds’ worth of devastation.

Firemen survey the damage to the school

The alarm was raised by the janitor, Thomas Senior, who opened the school at about 7.50am on Monday, July 7.

He was working in another part of the school when the fire bell rang and he ran out.

“It was all black smoke and I couldn’t get back in,” he said.

On receiving a call to the blaze, Fife Fire Brigade sent six appliances to the scene – two units and a hydraulic platform from Kirkcaldy, a unit from Thornton, a unit from Burntisland and an emergency tender from Glenrothes.

One of the damaged classrooms.

Firemaster Fraser Ballantyne also attended.

As firemen fought to bring the blaze under control, school cleaner Evelyn Burrell told the Fife Free Press she considered herself lucky to be alive.

Thirty-five-year-old Mrs Burrell, of Burt Avenue, had slept in that morning and when she arrived at the school a few minutes after 8am, the main building – erected in 1829 – was ablaze.

Mrs Burrell, who usually started work at 8am, said: “I slept in and when I came into the playground I saw smoke belching out of the windows.

“I am glad I slept in. I could have been in there.”

The fire bell had also been heard by the other school cleaner, 47-year-old Sarah Wells of Queens Crescent, who suffered a moment of panic as she was unaware that Mrs Burrell had not yet arrived for work.

”I was in the top section of the building,” she said, “when I heard the bell, and I ran out.”